A Look At How the HTC EVO 4G Was Designed

Many of you out there either own an HTC EVO 4G or have owned one in the past. If you’re not a part of that group, then you probably know somebody that wields one or has done so in the past.And if you somehow don’t find yourself nodding in approval, you probably can appreciate awesome technology. Right? Right. And such is the case with the HTC EVO 4G.

It’s a beautiful piece of technology that launched to great fanfare all the way back in June 2010. It went on to become Sprint’s best selling device of all time and one of HTC’s all-time greats. The phone is a legend. But how was that legend made? Well, the lead designer has taken it upon himself to show off how it was done.

It’s an absolutely fascinating look at a phone that truly is one of the best phones ever made. I’ll just touch on some of the highlights here. If you want to read the entire thing, make sure you head here.

On How They Packed So Much Into The HTC EVO 4G:

Additional requests for a bigger battery, integrated kickstand, 4G antenna system and bigger speakers made the phone look thicker than desirable. We added a high-contrast split on the side as a visual trick to maintain a thin, sleek aesthetic. This also created an impression of a thick slab of display glass that wraps to the sides and a back housing that had a sheet-like gesture, which was a fresh aesthetic.

On The Camera:

One of the biggest challenges was to include an 8MP camera – it was a huge component. While it was a requirement to highlight this key feature, it shouldn’t feel unnaturally big or loud. To create this balance, I needed to find an aesthetic solution that would somewhat mask the component size, and one that would look honest and purposefully ‘camera-like’.

This led to a spherical design that partially protrudes the outer surface of the phone. It created an interesting and iconic character akin to an eyeball sitting in a socket. I liked that it had the notion of the phone as a housing for powerful, intelligent, internal components.

How the Kickstand Went From Dream to Reality

This only scratches the surface as to how much time, effort, and attention to detail went into the process and it’s truly a beautiful look at the formation of one of the truly iconic smartphones All in all, lead designer Donn Koh says that it took one year to get the design of the HTC EVO 4G finalized.